Take a Walk

By Ellie Hodder

Ellie Hodder is the
founder of Women Walk
the Marathon® in
Portland, OR and
creator of the website
www.everything4walkers.com

Amazing Walking Featss

Do you ever ponder your feet? Did you know that each foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 tendons, muscles and ligaments? That’s 25% of all the bones in your body, just in those two little tootsies.

Actually, the more I thought about feet in general, the more curious I became about walkers, so I spent a little time researching some amazing feats (no pun intended) by walkers. Here are a few I thought you might find interesting.

Julies Bourglay, aka “Leatherman,” was a 19th century French expatriate. He was born in Lyon, France. As a young man, Bourglay apprenticed as a leather craftsman in hopes of being allowed to marry the boss’s daughter. Unfortunately, he lost all his money when leather technology changed. It is unknown what happened to him immediately following this disaster, but a man fitting his description showed up in the town of Harwinton, Conn. in 1862.

Dressed from head-to-toe in leather attire, Bourglay immediately began daily treks of 10+ miles, traversing a 365-mile circuit like clockwork every 34 days. Each month he began his clockwise trek from the area near Harwinton, completing a circuit that ran from the Connecticut to the Hudson Rivers and back again.

Preferring the outdoors, he only slept on the open ground or in one of many caves along his route where he stashed wood in anticipation of his return. So predictable was his route that some farmers would prepare a hot meal knowing he would appear at a precise hour. He was known to speak only in grunts or make appreciative gestures for the meals. He would never tarry, but set out almost immediately on his regular route. Bourglay died after a particularly harsh New England winter when he was in his 60s.

K. Veerabadran holds the world records for both continuous walking (five days and five nights covering a distance of 573.4km) and also for walking backwards (137km, backwards, in 24 hours.) Veerabadran has tried three times to break his own record, but to no avail. In fact, on his third attempt, he was struck by a truck and has since sworn off backwards walking altogether.

On April 3 of this year, a robot at Cornell University set the Robot World Record for continuous walking. The Cornell Ranger managed 45 laps at the campus’s Barton Hall track, for a distance of 5.6 miles.

In April 1998, New York resident Ashirita Furman set a world record for walking 80.96 miles in 23:35 — with a milk bottle balanced on his head. Furman, a strict vegan, used a soya milk bottle, not a dairy milk bottle, to accomplish his feat.

Furman also holds the record for pogo stick jumping — one mile in 00:12:16 set in July 2001. He holds the record for the fastest 8k distance completed walking on stilts. This record, 00:39:56, was set in December 2004. He also holds the record for the fastest mile completed while hopping on one foot. That record, set in February 2006, is 00:27:51 (take away the pogo stick and a man gets a lot slower!)

Furman might also hold some sort of record for the amount of world records he holds — 82 at last count.

Wolfgang Kulow holds the world record for underwater walking. In May 2003, Kulow became the first person to complete an underwater marathon. He accomplished this in 24:24. Unfortunately, this record was soon smashed (by two minutes) by Holger Meironke, so Kulow decided to try to regain the top spot. On May 14, 2004, he completed the distance in under 22 hours.

To make sure he kept the top spot, Kulow continued walking underwater for an additional 24 hours and 24 minutes, earning him the win for the underwater ultra marathon. I have visions of Kulow (underwater) saying “Nanner, nanner, nanner,” while sticking out his tongue.

By the way, lest you think less of him for merely walking for a day underwater, Kulow also holds the world record for underwater cycling.

And, then, there is Rolf Iven, who holds the title in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest distance walked on hotplates. Yes, they were turned on. In November 2006, Iven completed a distance of 19:10 meters. I will leave you alone to ponder “Why?”

So there you have it, a few of the curious folk who traverse Mother Earth along with you. Inspired? Maybe we’ll read about you next time — “Portland Walker sets World Record for Walking Backwards around City Hall on Hands while Balancing Laptop on Feet.” That’s one not yet listed in the Guinness Book of World’s Records.